The Christian Scholars Conference

This past weekend I was in Nashville for the annual Christian Scholars Conference, and it was, like last year's, a fantastic time. I could not be more impressed with David Fleer and the other folks who put it on; as I discussed with different people over the weekend, it's a bit surreal for us Church of Christ mainstays to believe that something this good -- not to mention ecumenical! -- could be the work of Stone-Campbell people. But just because it is, it is that much more important.

It was a blessing to hear speak, to meet, to see again, and most of all to engage as varied scholars and thinkers as Dana Gioia, John Patrick Shanley, Everett Ferguson, Robin Jensen, David Dark, Lee Camp, Rodney Clapp, John Nugent, Richard Beck, Ron Highfield, Mark Powell, James Elkins, Darryl Tippens, Tom Olbricht, Charles Campbell, Will Campbell, John Egerton, Richard Goode, Richard Hughes, Leonard Allen, David Perkins, Craig Detweiler, and, last but not least, Over the Rhine's Linford Detweiler and Karin Bergquist. And of course, we got to experience the brilliance of TOKENS for a second time.

Over the next few days I plan to offer brief posts about the different sessions I was able to attend; and while I'm not quite sure how I'm going to make it to Malibu for next year's CSC gathering at Pepperdine, I hope these short excerpts create even further interest on the part of scholars and theologians who might otherwise never have imagined attending one of those eerie Church of Christ meetings!